Spectating the Cross Country Championships with Oiselle

This past Saturday (Feb. 7), Boulder hosted the USATF Cross Country Championships at Flatirons Golf Course. The meet featured races on the high school, junior, masters, and open levels - with the top 6 finishers in the men's and women's open division making Team USA at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in China at the end of March.

Never having been to a cross country meet myself, once I heard Oiselle was fielding a team and none other than Sally Bergesen (Momma Bird herself), Kristin Metcalf (our team director), Lauren Fleshman (5k speedster, coach, Picky Bar co-founder, author, etc, etc) and other amazing birds were going to be in Boulder for it, I had to be there. 

One of our local teammates, Bret, did an awesome job organizing the day - from a group run starting at the Bobolink Trailhead ending at the golf course, to lunch at Fate Brewing after the races. As we were running along the south end of the golf course we happened to meet up with Sally, who was out for a quick run herself! We all cheered her name as she jumped right into the mix and joined us. If you were there and saw a great looking group of women running into the golf course - not wearing racing kits - that was us. 

We quickly found Kristin and a few other teammates, including a few of the ones racing. Oiselle fielded a 5 woman team including: Christine Babcock and Collier Lawrence (both with Little Wing), Arlene Espinoza, Drea McLarty, and Liz Anjos.

Pre-Race smiles: Kristin and two of my Colorado faves - Laura and Bret

Thinking we'd run about 3 miles for our "short run," I had done 4 miles earlier in the morning. I did not realize however, that we'd be sprinting from point to point along the 2K looped course to catch our teammates at different points along the 8K race. (This is purely a result of me not thinking about how it would play out. I should have known!) By the end of the day I had a solid 7 miles of running plus a good sprint workout under my belt! A good reminder that even spectating can be tough work! But entirely fun, too.

Just after the start of the Women's Open 8K

I should mention quickly that while snow has fallen around here, we've had a fairly mild start to 2015 and Saturday was our warmest day yet. Talking 70 degrees. I can't imagine many of the runners were prepared to race in that kind of heat, but watching the women and men speed around the course was nothing short of awe inspiring. Beyond Christine Babcock securing a spot for the Pan American Games with her 13th place finish, the next most inspiring finish for me was Jen Rhines, 3x Olympian, made the USA Cross Country team for the 7th time at age 40. Talk about awesome! 

For the open division, the women did 4 laps for 8K while the men finished 6 laps for 12K. Cheering crowds dashed around the course to cheer for the runners at multiple points along the way. And of course a great crowd gathered at the finish line. As it was my first cross country meet I have no reference point, but it seemed to me like the turnout was pretty great and Boulder was an excellent host.

That's Lauren Fleshman coaching Christine Babcock

Kristin and the Colorado Birds cheering for Collier Lawrence

After the men's race we headed off to Fate Brewing for a team lunch. We had definitely worked up a good appetite! All in all, it was a fantastic day and I'm so glad to be part of the awesome team here in Colorado and able to cheer on our teammates!

photo credit: Greg Metcalf

I encourage you to also check out Kristin's post on Oiselle's blog, HERE.

Have you - or would you like to - run cross country? 
(I apologize to everyone in the midwest and on the east coast who's been dealing with lots of cold and snow this winter. Wish I could share the warmth with you!)

Hiking Chautauqua

Working in Boulder I’ve heard of this place called Chautauqua. All I really knew was that people would go there to hike and it’s right in Boulder, but I hadn’t taken time to get out there. Then I was given the task of organizing all the logistics for my company’s off-site annual planning meeting this year (which I thought was a bit odd since I just joined the firm a few months ago, but then again, they probably realized that I’ll rock it so they chose me anyway) and I found out that it’s typically held at Chautauqua and that would be my first place to check out.

I drove the 10 minutes from our office in downtown Boulder to check out a few options and was immediately taken aback by the beautiful scenery when I turned into the park. Before I left I had decided to bring Woody back to hike. Thankfully the weather was perfect on Sunday – and I was feeling less sick – so it was a great day for a hike!

The fact that the park is free and just minutes from Downtown Boulder makes it a perfect place for people to hike. There were lots of people on the trails, from families to groups of friends, and of course, dogs. Some of the dogs were pretty amazing, not sure how they were getting up those steep rocky climbs!

There are access points to climb the three flatirons in the park, and we saw a number of rock climbers, weighed down with gear (I have no idea what it’s all called). I was hoping to see someone actually climbing, but we didn’t catch a glimpse of that! We did see a handful of hardcore runners – some in these steep rocky areas and some on the gravel roads. I was secretly wondering if they run Leadville!

After our hike, which was only about an hour and a half because we had started our morning with a gym workout, we had a delicious brunch at the Dining Hall in the park. We both enjoyed our meals and the atmosphere was comfortable but upscale. The prices were very reasonable and the whole thing reminded me of brunches we’d have at the Boathouse Café in Central Park after running.

I look forward to going back to Chautauqua to try out some of the many other trails in the park!

What are your plans for Halloween?

I’d be remiss not to mention Superstorm Sandy on the one year anniversary of when it hit New York City. The night of October 29th, 2012 was the most frightening night of my life, and we rode it out 24 flights up. The building was creaking like we were on an old wooden ship and the wind was pounding on our windows so hard I was convinced they were going to blow out. Thankfully, we just lost power and water; our building didn’t flood. The flood zone maps are eerily accurate as buildings across the street from us did flood and we saw waves of water on Wall Street from our window during the night. The morning after we walked down the 24 floors and saw these scenes…

Thankfully, we had great family friends in Hell’s Kitchen who took us in for several days until we could go back home. There was a sense of camaraderie in the city the days following Sandy that I’d never experienced before. I’m beyond grateful that we made it through the storm, and I hope never to go through that again. Whenever I hear of businesses re-opening in our old neighborhood, two more just last week, it’s a great, great thing.